278 Sharks, One Quiet Bay: Maya Bay Reopens October 1 With Its Nursery Thriving

On the morning of September 2, 2026, marine researchers hovering over drone footage of Maya Bay counted 278 adult blacktip reef sharks cruising the shallows — the highest single count of the year, recorded while the bay was closed and not a single tourist footprint marked the sand [ref:1]. Two days from now, on October 1, the famous cove on Koh Phi Phi Leh opens its shoreline again. The sharks are the headline; the welcome mat is the news.

A record set in the quiet season

The count comes from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), working with Marine National Park Operation Center 3 in Trang and Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park. Their September survey was a proper piece of science: 15 drone flights found that sharks gather thickest at dawn — averaging about 252 individuals in the early morning against roughly 57 by evening. Most were mature adults over a metre long, patrolling close to shore, with three to five juveniles under a metre tucked into the shallows [ref:1].

Underwater cameras told the same story. Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems, deployed 23 times, filmed up to four juvenile blacktips in a single frame. Water sampling across 22 sites measured an average temperature of 30.25°C and salinity of 33.10 parts per thousand — conditions researchers describe as ideal for marine life. Jinda Srisuppatpong, director of the DNP's Marine National Park Management Division, called the gathering a key indicator of the bay's ecological health [ref:1].

Why the bay takes a two-month breath

Every year from August 1 to September 30, Maya Bay closes — along with neighbouring Loh Samah and Loh Ko — so corals and the beach recover without crowds, and so nobody attempts a shore landing at the stormy height of the southwest monsoon. The closure also gives the bay's shark nursery an undisturbed season to rest, feed, and raise young [ref:1].

The patience has already paid off once, spectacularly. Overwhelmed by crowds in the 2010s, the bay shut in 2018 and stayed closed for more than three years. Over 15,000 coral fragments were replanted, and by December 2018 blacktip reef sharks had already returned to the shallows. When the bay reopened in January 2022 under new rules, they stayed — on a typical day now, about 40 blacktips glide past the beach in water clear enough to watch them from dry sand [ref:2].

Your visit, step by step

From October 1, the bay welcomes visitors roughly 07:00–18:00 each day. Boats no longer enter the bay; they tie up at a floating pontoon in Loh Samah Bay on the island's far side, and a guide walks each group along a wooden boardwalk through the forest — five to ten minutes of birdsong before the cliffs open up [ref:2].

A few rules shape the hour you'll spend on the sand:

• Take it knee-deep. Swimming in the bay is not allowed; wading to your knees is, and it keeps the nursery waters calm.
• One hour, in turns. The park admits up to 375 people per hour, so groups rotate through the beach.
• Fee at the gate. The national park entry fee is 400 baht for foreign adults, 200 baht for children.
• Reef-safe sunscreen only. Products containing oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4MBC or butylparaben have been banned in Thai national parks since 2021 — fines run up to 100,000 baht, so check the label.
• Leave the beach as you found it. No collecting sand, shells or coral; take every wrapper with you [ref:2].

The sharks, small and shy, are usually visible from the shoreline in the morning — the same hours the drones found them most crowded. Watch from the sand, and let the nursery do its thing.

Timing it right

October sits at the wet tail of the Andaman monsoon — expect short, sharp showers rather than all-day rain, a sea around 29°C, and the occasional rescheduled tour. The steady advice is to book your Phi Phi day early in your holiday so a spare day remains if the swell is up. November grows drier; December opens the settled season. Nearly 1.7 million people found their way here between October 2023 and July 2024 [ref:2], so an early-departure tour is your friend if you'd like the bay closer to how the sharks found it: quiet, glassy, and first thing in the morning.

Two months of rest, a record nursery count, and a set of rules that let both people and blacktips share one small, luminous bay. That's the Maya Bay that opens Thursday — bring reef-safe sunscreen and a little patience, and you'll see what 278 sharks already know.